


The old violin

by hoelybaby, NessieKoizumi



Category: Given (Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst and Romance, Friendship/Love, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Tragic Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-14 20:47:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29424795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hoelybaby/pseuds/hoelybaby, https://archiveofourown.org/users/NessieKoizumi/pseuds/NessieKoizumi
Summary: Sitting with him at the attic was a thing he’ll always keep close to his heart. “In another life you’ll be sitting beside me and I can reach you.”
Relationships: Kaji Akihiko/Murata Ugetsu, Murata Ugetsu/Original Male Character(s)
Kudos: 4





	The old violin

**Author's Note:**

> Hello and Happy Valentine !! It’s been awhile since I wrote anything, and this time I got some help from a co-writer. The clash between our writing can be slightly detectable , I’m a hasty writer and non the wiser haha. I’m still healing from the given movie so I hope all of us will be healing along with Ugetsu. Thank you for reading and sorry for any shortcoming !!

The first time Akihiko heard Ugetsu, it was accidental. He was wandering around his grandparents' large house because finally there were no adults to stop him and echoing a long “Aki, No!” as if he is a little child or a pet. His parents were away on their annual honeymoon trip, this time to the sunny island far away from Japan. He prays that the weather there is terrible, that it would spoil his parents romantic mood like how his father reasons to not bring him along. 

Grandma was out for tea, or was it charity? It was between that two. Being rich means there’s a lot of function to attend even when you’re sixty-two. Grandfather was still at the house but he is at the other end of the house, coop up in his office like he always do. Akihiko often wonder how does his grandfather office look like. Rarely did anyone went there without him calling them first, even the maid did not go to clean. And there’s the attic, which his cousins often speculate was haunted. 

Akihiko does not really believe in ghost because he never saw one in his 7 years old life. His cousins also often made dumb theories about aliens and monsters or mutants and zombiez so he took it upon himself to discover the truth. 

As Akihiko getting closer to the stairs leading to the attic, he heard grandfather voice and stop. His heart also stop because he thought he was being caught but it turn out grandfather was talking with someone else. He waited for a while to made sure grandfather really was addressing someone else and not him. 

He was halfway through the stairs when grandfather suddenly called him to come into the office. “Crap”, Akihiko thought to himself. The two of them are not really close, his grandfather wasn’t stern or anything like that but he was rather reclusive. He often secluded himself during family gathering as if he was not comfortable to be around his own family. 

To Akihiko's surprise, grandfather was alone in his office so perhaps maybe he was on the phone with someone with the speakers on like old people usually do.

“I apologise for coming here by my own accord, grandfather. But grandma went out and I felt lonely. Mom and dad also have not call me”

Grandfather's expression seems to soften at the mention of lonely, and Akihiko was glad he stopped himself from saying bored. The two had small talks, mainly of extra classes he had taken. And when he talks about what songs he can now play on the violin, Akihiko swears he heard a voice saying “wow”. The same voice he heard talking with grandfather. 

“I know you would make me proud 

one day, Akihiko. All you need is to not become like your father. Reckless and too wild.”

As Akihiko walked back to the main room, he heard again the voice, saying “He’s talented just like you.” Was grandfather really that proud of him that he immediately got back on the phone to his friend? But he soon forgot about the mystery voice as grandma brought home his favourite snacks.

Akihiko never got the chance to check out the attic after that because his parents had relocated to the city, and visits to his grandparents had become more sparse. That is until the time he played hide and seek with his cousins. There are unspoken rules at his grandparent’s house like never to enter certain rooms without having grandfather permission first, which include the attic. 

He knew his chances of winning would be wider if he went and hid there since the others wouldn’t dare to enter the attic since it’s dark and dusty. His cousins are a bunch of scaredy cats, they would not even come to this part of the house. And thus what more sure way to win this game then to hide there, Akihiko thought to himself. And Akihiko is a big boy and big boy aren’t afraid of dark places and spiderwebs so he made his way there, slow and steady footsteps heading towards the forbidden places. 

Although he can almost repeat the words by words of his mother on the rules he has to follow every time they went to his grandparent’s house , he was eager to win the game today since the winner would get the others’ dessert and the dessert being served today is his favourite. He hides at the farthest side of the attic and although the stuff is a little bit cluttered, the place clearly looks like it’s well taken care of and it’s not as dark as he thought it would be. 

Akihiko knows he shouldn’t be snooping around since the stake is high for the game today, that he should be hiding but he’s eager to place his fingers on the stuff he could see and touch since he’s unsure whether he’ll get another chances to look around when they ratted him out. Placed in a neat line inside a pretty wooden carved box , Akihiko took out pieces by pieces of various vinyl of a certain someone with the name of Ugetsu Murata.

“Kid, you shouldn’t be playing here.”

Akihiko almost screams out loud but he only left a scared screeching sound at the sound of someone talking , turning his head around at a rapidly fast pace and squinting his eyes over and over again but Akihiko still can’t see traces of anyone who spoke it. 

“You’re gonna get a headache if you keep moving your head like that.”

And although Akihiko knows he’s second away from running or pissing his pants off, he stands a little bit taller with his hands in a fist. Akihiko is a brave kid after all.

“Show yourself. “

“Are you sure? I could be a demon you know.”

The way he talks to him as if he’s a kid is grinding on Akihiko’s nerve. Puffing his chest out, with a hand on his heart.

“I’m a big guy. I’m not afraid of some talking air.”

And suddenly out of thin air, a hunched finger shows itself to Akihiko. The room is filled with soft though almost taunting laughter, the figure although blurry could be seen with one of his hands on his belly and another wiping away non-existent tears from his eye.

“You’re funny kid, I’ll give you that.”

“You’re blurry.”

Tilting his head, the could-be-a-demon closen their distance and stood in front of Akihiko. Gaping a little bit, Akihiko’s eyes bulge out !

“Oh God, you’re a ghost.”

“I’m a stucked soul actually, not a ghost.”

And that’s the tale of how a 9 years old Akihiko befriends the stucked soul hidden in his grandparent’s attic.

  * \- 



The second time Akihiko had entered another forbidden place at his grandparent’s house was when he was 13. He wasn’t ratted out since he managed to sneak out after all the others were caught and he just diverts their attention by saying, “A winner never tells his secret passage.” so he’ll go to the attic when the others are sleeping and sit beside his lonely friend. 

“Could you help find something for me, Aki?”

Humming along to the barely there sound of Ugetsu’s violin concerto, Akihiko tilts his head and look at the the blurry figure who’s looking a little bit glum. He can see the outline of a person, face blurrier than the body and only when he squints real hard or when Ugetsu has the extra “energy” could Akihiko really see him. 

“Help you find what?”

“My violin. I think it’s being kept somewhere.”

“Sure. But do you know where it could be?”

Looking down to his shoes, playing with his fingers, Ugetsu just shakes his head and says “Sorry, I just know it’s somewhere around the house too.” And Akihiko being Akihiko, tried to grab Ugetsu’s hands in his, but it went through.

“Don’t worry, I’ll find it for you.”

“Thanks Aki.”

Ugetsu blesses him with a sweet small smile but it warms little Akihiko’s heart. He must be so lonely when Akihiko’s not there so he has to help him out whenever he can. They’re best friend after all.

That’s how Akihiko went out of his way, tipping around whenever he had the chance to look around the house sneakily, he wouldn’t want to get caught and disappoint Ugetsu. It’s not like he went to his grandparent’s house that often. They only went when there’re special occasions or when his parents were too busy with each other to care for him. So there was not much time for him to find Ugetsu violin before the weekend ends. If it’s not in the attic, then it could only be at one place, his grandfather's study.

He entered his grandfather’s study and there it was Ugetsu’s violin behind his grandfather's large desk , looking all majestic in a glass case. Akihiko knows that for a fact because grandfather’s violin was in his room. 

“Kaji Akihiko, what are you doing inside my study?”

“Good afternoon grandfather. I was just um looking around. It’s beautiful.”

“You shouldn’t be playing around here.”

Bowing his head and excusing himself out, giddily Akihiko waits for the right time to sneak to the attic and tell the good news to Ugetsu.

Ugetsu told Akihiko that it was alright, he doesn’t want Akihiko to get in trouble so he shouldn’t try to get the violin out. Akihiko just nods his head and say,

“I’m going to win the competition and then I’ll ask grandfather if he can give the violin to me. And then I’ll return the violin to you, Ugetsu.”

Akihiko smugly talked about his violin prowess, how he was the best at his music school. So he will free Ugetsu violin from his grandfather's study. Ugetsu could only roll his eyes fondly at Akihiko antics, and wished him a silent goodluck.

  * -



Ugetsu watches Akihiko grow in front of his eyes, from being a snobby kid who declares he’s a big guy to someone who flaunts his extra activity with his flavour of the week.

“You shouldn’t play someone's heart like that Aki.”

Ugetsu admits that as he matures, Akihiko turns out to be a good looking man. He had lost the chubby cheek, no longer spotting missing front tooth or the phase when he wore the braces and was very grumpy because as Akihiko said, “it’s stupid, I have to take cautious with my biting.”

“I wish you are real sometimes Uge.”

Akihiko told him when he was 17 turning 18, smoking in the attic with the ever playing violin concerto barely heard in the background.

“I’m as real as I can be Aki. You’re not the one who’s stuck.”

Akihiko turns his head to look at Ugetsu, though he can barely see him now. And isn’t that a disheartening thing. 

“In another life, in another life you’ll be sitting beside me and I can reach you.”

“Or in another life, we’ll be hurting one another and cry under the moonlight.”

“In another life, I’ll make you play a very own concerto for me.”

“Or in another life, you’ll hate music because of me.”

“You’re too pessimistic.”

“Can’t help it, try being stuck as an almost ghost at some house for years to come.”

Akihiko puffed another smoke out, he cleared his throat and asked the question that had been a plague in his mind ever since he had thought of it.

“You never told me about it.”

Ugetsu plays aloof, he just looks at the scattered vinyls on the floor, avoiding the question he knows he would have to answer one day.

“How did you get stuck?”

Ugetsu stops his air drawing and turns to Akihiko, with his ghostly hand centimetres away from touching Akihiko’s cheek. Solemnly Ugetsu sighs and say, “It’s not for me to tell Aki.” and he went hiding, just like whenever Akihiko asks anything too close to comfort.

  * -



They were all summoned and gathered to his grandparent’s house when Akihiko turns 21. Ugetsu is barely visible at this point, sometimes the only proof he’s there with Akihiko would be the strange cold sensation he would feel whenever he sat in the attic. A reminder that he’s there but he’s too weak to show himself. 

His grandfather’s dying. Akihiko knew he should be more crushed about it and not because he can’t no longer see his best friend. He made his way, slowly approaching the last forbidden place at the house. As he grows older, the need to sneak around wasn’t as eagerly executed like back when he was a child. He’s almost afraid of knowing the truth and it’s not like Ugetsu had done anything to deflect the daunting idea.

Standing in front of a locked door where Akihiko finally got the copy of the lock from his fling with one of the maids, he entered the room with a heavy heart. 

In front of him, in all of his glory is a painting of Ugetsu, a beautiful painting of him in the arms of his - Akihiko’s grandfather. A small smile on his face while his grandfather was looking so smug and playful that it look so out of place from the ever present serious gloomy face on his grandfather’s face.

“Akihiko.”

Turning his head towards the voice calling his name, standing as clearly as he had ever seen him, Ugetsu starts to make his way towards him. Standing side by side, Akihiko now knows the height difference between them, the colour of his eyes, the outline of his smile, the perky way of his walk.

“We were lovers. But he chose his inheritance over me. And at my last concerto, just right after he had given me the wedding invitation I got caught in a car crash.”

Akihiko just stare at Ugetsu's trembling figure. He straighten out his body posture and although he looks determined, he could only talk about it with a shaky voice,

“I’m stuck because I was cursing his name and wishing his death during my last moment.”

“No.”

Akihiko turns to face Ugetsu and when his hands didn’t go through, Akihiko could only laugh happily or else, he’s sure he would be sobbing since everything feels so overwhelming. His grandfather’s selfishness, his grandfather’s old lover, his grandfather’s sin.

“I might be young but I know enough about souls stuck from the movies and books I’ve been gathering around, some souls would be stuck when they have unfinished business. You’re stuck because of the old bastard’s guilt.”

Ugetsu laughed, even if it’s just a tiny laugh that didn’t even lasted a minute, and Akihiko smiles because he knows he’s the reason behind it.

“I’m finally moving on Aki. I think it’s my last day here, that's why I’m no longer bound to this house.” 

_to your grandfather,_ Ugetsu adds in his mind. 

Ugetsu tried to make a joke of it but both of them know, they’re not quite ready for the parting. They can’t be entirely sure when will they ever see each other again or whether they would even see each other at all.

“You take care of yourself big guy. Don’t play around too much.”

“Don’t go Uge.”

Tilting his head like Akihiko had seen him do ever seen he was a snotty child, Ugetsu finally is able to touch his cheeks and with a sad smile,

“I wish I could Aki, I wish I could stay. But you have to let me go. You don’t want me to continue being stuck, do you? Don’t you think I had spent long enough being a mere soul without a body all these years? Don’t you sympathise with me, Aki?”

Shaking his head, Akihiko closen their distance, resting his head on Ugetsu’s shoulder and pulls him in for a warm embrace. He fits so well there, Akihiko thought. It’s their first and last embrace, he could almost laugh at the irony.

“I’ll try to find you, okay.”

“You better.”

“Snooty brat.”

“I love you.”

“I know.”


End file.
